Rachel Miu Athha
"I've never had a chance to figure things out for myself..." A talented young pilot that hails from the Orb Union, Rachel has rapidly established herself in the ranks of Katharon as a friend, soldier, and a girl that has had a fairly rough life. Though known as Cagalli's younger sister, Rachel's family name and title are usually never invoked, and her rank as an Orb Union military officer is modest at best. Polite, dedicated, honest, a little naive, a hard worker, and a handful of other terms, she currently stays on the Argama under the watchful eye of Amuro Ray, who is helping her abilities as a Newtype develop. For all that Rachel is, she's still a bit on the emotionally stunted side, prone to jarring shifts in mood and emotion that often leave fellow empaths in her presence reeling. There are some glaring question marks in her life-- her relationship with some of Katharon's most influential leaders, her talents in a Mobile Suit, for starters-- but neither she, nor they are going to be telling anytime soon. Background Information Ask around about Rachel and you'll get the same response from any other crew member: She's Cagalli's little sister. Her scars suggest that she's had a bit of a rough past. Adopted by Uzumi Nara Athha at a very young age, she lived with her uncle, Homura, for most of her life. She would visit Cagalli often, but around five years ago it became harder and harder to make it out to see her elder sister. One year ago, the pair lost touch when Cagalli was informed she was missing following a skirmish between the Orb Union and the invading Earth Federation forces. After this, she was forced to eke out what life she could while attempting to dodge the Earth Federation forces-- after all, the name "Athha" is one that would turn a few heads. Since then, Rachel has managed to integrate herself into Katharon's forces fairly well. It wasn't a perfect and smooth road; Rachel herself has dealt with numerous ghosts of her own past and coming to understand what her life means, and means to others. Currently, Rachel holds a post in three different arms of the extended Katharon family, as a Lieutenant in the AEUG and in the Orb Union's military, and as an informal member of Mithril's Special Response Team. Personality Traits Passionate outbursts alternating with seriousness and mixed with a bit of confusion-- that is Rachel in a nutshell. She seems to have a hard time managing her own emotions, and seeing her cry when she's upset over something is not an unusal thing. Few people have successfully made her smile an honest, legitimate smile, and sometimes it's like the poor sixteen-year old girl has no idea how to laugh at something. Above all else, she tends to make one thing clear very quickly, and in earnest: She wants to help in any way possible. In a situation where she's clearly uncomfortable, Rachel has her own safety net of sorts in physical contact; more often than not when she's nervous around others, she'll hold someone's hand. Usually, that someone is a person that she trusts, be it Cagalli, Tessa, or Amuro. On the same side of things, she isn't fully understanding of physical contact or social behaviors from others, this usually results in Rachel turning to her older sister like some kind of confused child asking where babies come from. Curiously, for all the things she's not, Rachel is an amazing Mobile Suit pilot. When she's behind the controls, much of her hesitation and nervousness slip away into cool confidence as it would for a seasoned veteran of battle... Talents & Abilities As a Newtype, Rachel's mental abilities are a cut above the average; her spatial awareness and coordination in a Mobile Suit is higher than others. Varying levels of empathy have emerged more than once, almost as a reaction to the states of others around her. The most well-known in this suite of abilities is what is often nicknamed a "Newtype Flash," a sense of precognative awareness of certain things... especially of an incoming attack. As a pilot, she has a distinctive style with beam sabers; often leaving the use of ranged weaponry off the table, Rachel wields them in a backhanded position. While this lowers the striking power with some slashes, it gives her the chance to put more stabbing force behind her strikes. In the MVF-M11C Murasame, the shield is often not used to accomodate for opening up both hands in battle. Do not be surprised to see her alter the machine into the moble armor/flight mode and attack in the most direct way possible: A head-on charge. There's a certain lack of hesitation in her movements and swings, a confidence that isn't often seen. On foot, Rachel is quite athletic, able to run in a dead sprint longer than most people can hold a terrified run for their lives. She knows how to handle her firearms and most common small melee weaponry. She has a knack for working with machines, as much as she understates it-- she's sticking halfway out of her own machines with a magnetic string of wrenches and ratchets just as often as Astonaige. In terms of culture, she has a talent for playing the guitar, as well as painting. For only being seventeen years old, she's had a very diverse education. Since her assignment to the Argama, she's also become quite adept at chasing down escaping chickens. Unit List *MSZ-006-P2/3C Zeta Gundam P2/3C Type A prototype Mobile Suit designed by Anaheim Electronics, the P2/3C is a testbed for newtype-use technologies, including expanded usage of the Bio Sensor designed for the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam. While the weapons loadout may seem to be less powerful than the Zeta or Double Zeta, it features a syncronized motion system utilizing Trace-style technology and the Bio Sensor to give near-flawless realtime control of the Mobile Suit to Rachel as she moves her body. It's most powerful function is the Psyco Neutralizer, a prototype technology that allows for the "Red Zeta" to mentally hijack psycommu or otherwise mentally-controlled remote weapons for a short time. *MBF-02 Gundam Strike Rouge The extremely pink sister unit to the Strike, Rachel was given access to this Mobile Suit shortly after Cagalli came into the possession of the ORB-01 Akatsuki. She takes very good care of this machine even when she doesn't need to take it out to battle, and it shows. Typically equipped with the P202QX Integrated Weapons Striker Pack, it features dual head-mounted "Igelstellung" 75mm multi-barrel CIWS vulcan guns, dual "Armor Schneider" combat knives, a pair of 9.1 meter-long anti-ship swords, and a heavy, reinforced shield outfitted with a "Midas Messer" beam boomerang mounted into the upper half, while a 30mm six-barrel gatling gun is mounted through the length and ending at the lower end. *MVF-M11C Murasame Her first unit when she joined Katharon, the Murasame is nimble, agile, and able to transform into a flight mode that vaguely resembles the Waveriders of Anaheim's Zeta series. It isn't the strongest machine in her arsenal, but this pink Mobile Suit has served her very well over time. Outfitted with a Type-72 "Kai" Beam Rifle, twin Type-70J Kai beam sabers, 12.5mm CIWS vulcans and a shield in Mobile Suit mode, and with four M2M5D 12.5mm CIWS guns, four Type 66A "Hayate" air-to-air missiles, and a Type-72 back-mounted high-energy cannon in Mobile Armor mode. Rachel has been known to use the shield as a ramming weapon in this mode; her very direct manner of piloting coupled with unnatural reaction times and newtype awareness has led to Kira custom-tuning the OS to make it's use smoother for her. *M9 Gernsback CIS-Type A customized "Close-In Strike" Gernsback unit put together by Theresa Testarossa for Rachel's personal use. Originally deployed in space, it features a very limited booster integrated into the backpack for simple maneuvering-- and while it cannot be used to make the Arm Slave fly, it adds to the already ridiculous jumping power that the Gernsback is famous for. While outfitted with the standard 12.7mm head-mounted chaingun and the hand-carried 40mm machine cannon, it's true armaments are a pair of monomolecular katars, sword, and a host of anti-tank daggers. Able to cloak itself from the naked eye with the Mithril-standard ECS suite. While Rachel's personal unit is pink, the "CIS-Type" is only a weapons loadout, and thus available to Katharon members with Mithril's clearance. *XM10 CIE-Type A proof-of-concept model Arm Slave designed by Tessa and built shortly before her disappearance at the Battle of Merida Island, the prototype M10 is built heavier and thicker than the M9 Gernsback, meant to be a little stronger, a little heavier, and a little more able to weather the rigors of long-term combat. Customized by Tessa and left for Rachel with it's partner unit piloted by Peries, the XM10 is equipped with an ECS suite, reinforced rocket anchors on top of monomolecular katars, anti-tank daggers designed to operate in tandem with the anchors, and a monomolecular nodachi. Unlike her customized M9, the XM10 does not have a booster, presumably for balance concerns. Like her M9, the XM10 has a distinctive pink color. Rachel has access to some of the more rare and powerful mass production model machines at Katharon's disposal, but her preference is the space-variant MBF-M1 M1A Astray. Relationships Logs *2010-03-24 - Everything Here Dies Alone- A soldier awakens on a Karaba cruiser. Amuro Ray's living secret is found out... and a young girl's life is changed forever. *2010-03-29 - Witness Protection Program - The first time Cagalli introduces Tessa to Rachel, certain aspects of the younger Athha's life are discussed... *2010-03-31 - Slicing Up Eyeballs - A-LAWS versus Neo-Zeon and Katharon at Fifth Luna. *2010-04-04 - Assisted Suicide - One life ends... *2010-04-12 - Checkup - Shortly before a surgery that would change a lot of things in her life, Tessa has a chat with Rachel. *2010-04-15 - Resonant Frequency - Resting after her surgery, Tessa and Rachel have a meeting of the minds... and each comes out of it a little different. *2010-04-16 - Strength and Weakness - Cagalli comes to visit Rachel after the procedure, and notices Tessa and Rachel acting... off... *2010-04-19 - Self-Obliteration - All confidence in Celestial Being is completely destroyed. *2010-04-26 - A Voice in Space - Rachel has a close encounter with her past. *2010-04-29 - Poaching - Katharon spends some time with their new captive after getting away from a rough battle in China. Soma is dismayed at who that includes...and how that person has changed. *2010-05-03 - Friendship Update - Rachel is shaken from recent encounters; Tanith tries to console her. *2010-06-14_-_Junker_Jive - Judau Ashta introduces Rachel to the most important skill anyone can ever have in their lives. *2010-07-28 - Nice to Meet You, Richelle! - Risa causes the most horrifying. rumor. ever. *2010-08-05 - Part 1: The Protegé - Amuro returns to the Argama and gets to work helping Rachel... Category:Katharon Category:Original Characters Category:Newtypes